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Day 8 Assignments
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7 Replies
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Sunil Pappu’s Likability/Empathy/Justification
“What I learned doing this assignment is…to create empathy/distress for my hero and make the audience care for her even if she is going to cause more damage than the other side.”
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
A. Other people like or respect the character – She is the underdog in the prison fight club but she beats her opponent and earns respect from the inmates
B. The character shows love for something – She cares from her fellow inmate and instructor and saves him before she escapes into the woods
C. They’re trying to do something good – She is activated to stop a nuclear war that could take many innocent lives
D. Save the cat: rescue or do something good for someone else – the Israeli fighter is saved and she cares about the dog that rescues her from the ice lake.
E. Funny, humorous, witty – She is a escape artist who can trick her opponents while getting out of restraints with ease.
F. Kindness – She cares for her partner and is willing to surrender to save his life
G. Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side – will not kill the prison guards as they are just doing their jobs but takes out the assassins sent to kill her. On the right side of nuclear war – has witnessed the horror of the nuclear fallout of Chernobyl that affected her family in Ukraine and now the War on Ukraine was amoral.
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. Undeserved misfortune – prison guards beat her up for winning a fight fairly; a contract to kill her is circulated in prison; inmate tries to rape her for beating him at the fight club; CIA abandoned her and left her in Russian prison to rot.
B. External Character conflicts – Russian military is after her; KGB agents and assassins with heavy weapons chase her in Siberia
C. Plot intruding on life – She lost her family and entire childhood when she was inducted into the Red Sparrow program by the KGB. She became a traitor but her adopted country left her in an enemy prison to rot.
D. Moral dilemmas – to sacrifice the Ex-military sniper or complete her mission; to get her personal vendetta or to stop the nuclear war.
E. Forced decisions they’d never make – she must leave the Israeli fighter to defend himself and escape to complete her mission, to implode the nuclear missile on the silo itself.
F. Wound attacked – rape attempt by inmate triggers her trauma as teen when her KGB handler raped her; He is the one she must now stop from launching a nuclear weapon.
JUSTIFICATION
A. The character or their family abused – raped as a teen in the KGB by her handler, who is now the KGB Commander; her father was killed in a nuclear accident; she was recruited into KGB after that and trained in the Red Sparrow program for girls.
B. Threatened by others – inmate in prison ready to rape and kill her
C. The Hero is the victim of attacks – She lost her family, lost her life in prison, and is now on the run from a Russian prison, chased by KGB agents and assassins led by her former teacher and rapist.
D. They’ve suffered major losses – lost family, lost her love, lost the rescue dog, a new friend is beaten to death
E. The Villain or their representatives have trespassed – into the life of her friend who chose to leave the military when Russia invaded Ukraine in an unjust war and hide out in the forest but now, because of her, he is beaten and tortured. They will kill him if she doesn’t surrender.
RUSSIAN SNIPER – WHY WE CARE
We open with her in a prison fight club against a huge opponent who is clearly a favorite. She is the underdog, but she beats her opponent and earns respect from her fellow inmates in the end.
But the prison guards who bet against her are not very happy with her and chain her up to be interrogated. She escapes her restraints using her wit and cleverly tricks them. They are left chained up instead as she slips out before the CCTV camera captures her face.
KGB commander is alerted when a facial recognition match is found for a defected KGB agent. He puts out a contract to kill her, and the guards circulate it among the inmates at the Russian prison.
The inmate she beat in the fight club takes the contract, but he wants to humiliate her first and attempts to rape her. This triggers her wound from childhood.
She recalls how her father was killed in a Sarov nuclear accident, and she was forced to abandon her plans to go to school. KGB recruited her into the Red Sparrow program instead for teen girls. KGB commander was her instructor who took a fancy to her and raped her repeatedly after their martial arts lessons.
She chose to endure it if it kept him off from her other friends. Now having lost her best friend and her lover in the last mission and ending up in a Russian prison, she finally was getting a chance to avenge her friend.
She is activated by her CIA handler, having defected from the KGB. Her mission is to stop the KGB commander from launching a nuclear weapon that could kill many innocent lives in Ukraine and start a nuclear war with US and NATO.
She escapes from the Russian prison as inmates chase her to win the contract, and prison guards try to stop her. She uses her wit and marksmanship to put into action a plan she worked out many years ago to escape and has been waiting for a green light. She cares for her fellow inmate and instructor in Krav Maga and saves him before she escapes into the woods.
She is now chased down by KGB agents and assassins as the Commander wants her dead.
Now we care for her to live and outsmart him and fulfil her mission, even find love again and get reinstated as a CIA agent.
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Danielle LEGRAND’s LIKABILITY / EMPATHY / JUSTIFICATION
What I learned during this assignement is making the hero likable, and arouse empathy for him. I also learned to justify any behaviour which could be judged as « unlikable » otherwise.
1. LIKABILITY / LOVABILITY
A. He makes a promise to his dying daughter
B. The hero plants a tree
C. He gives time for Charities
D. He pays a visit to a lonely old Lady
E. He is witty and humorous with his staff
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. His daughter died in his arms
B. He has received a lethal injection
C. He does not know who his enemy is
D. He has a difficut choice to make between his life and the country security first.
E. He is beaten and tortured
JUSTIFICATION
A. The hero must save his life
B. He must protect his wife
C. He has to find the antidote without compromising the scientist
D. He is also a victim of the cyber-attack
E. Whatever he does he knows the villains would kill him.
2. THE PRESIDENT- WHY WE CARE
In the opening scene the PRESIDENT makes the promise to take care of the environment as his daughter is dying from an illness linked to pollution.
The hero keeps his promise and plants trees in the city. He deals with a charity and take care of ill children.
When his Chief of Staff, TOM the VILLAIN – tries to blame his personal aid he shows kindness and humour.
Late in the evening, he has dinner with his closest friend -the scientist – and his wife. Then he shares a very romantic routine with his wife.
When THE « NURSE » injects and blackmails him he has to run away and is submerged by all what is happening at the same time. There is a cyber-attack in the White House. He can’t call his friend for help. He worries about his health and his wife’s fate as well as the country security. The HERO must absolutely run away in order to be able to act properly in such a catastrophic situation and we feel so sorry for him !
3. I’d like to keep the moments when the hero makes a promise to his daughter and when he is involved in good actions for the environment and the children.
I also like his humour and kindness towards his staff as well as the « romantic routine » with his wife.
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What I learned is that I’m still brainstorming and the character depth is an area for improvement is the feedback I get from the script competitions. THis lesson gives me a framework to work with.
Pass 2
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
• A. Other people like or respect the character: she’s the best shot in the CIA says Exec Director Jim Brown. We see her at the fairground and the guy is patronizing her and she shoots all the cans in one shot…
• B. The character shows love for something: we see a photo of her and her pet rabbit…and her wife..
• C. They’re trying to do something good: she’s trying to save the world from another pandemic.
• D. Save the cat — rescue or do something good for someone else: she has time to stop and help an old lady from being robbed.
• E. Funny, humorous, witty.
• F. Kindness.
• G. Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side. She does the right thing rather than protect a family member who has done wrong.
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
• A. Undeserved misfortune.
• B. External Character conflicts: her own father interrupted her intelligence meeting.
• C. Plot intruding on life
• D. Moral dilemmas: She hates her father but must pretend to like him again so that she can find out what he’s upto.
• E. Forced decisions they’d never make:
• F. Wound attacked: her father turns up and disrupts her intelligence meeting.
JUSTIFICATION
• A. The character or their family abused. Nick Chen is out for revenge on her parents, Rachel doesn’t know it yet.
• B. Threatened by others. Rachel is shot at in the first scene and almost killed as she carries out her job protecting a colleague during an intelligence meeting.
• C. The Hero is the victim of attacks: She’s shot at in the opening scenes’
• D. They’ve suffered major losses: her partner was killed in action.
• E. The Villain or their representatives have trespassed. They have kidnapped her mother.
Pass 1
LESSON 8 from Act 1
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
• A. Other people like or respect the character: she’s the best shot in the CIA says Exec Director Jim Brown.
• B. The character shows love for something.
• C. They’re trying to do something good.
• D. Save the cat — rescue or do something good for someone else.
• E. Funny, humorous, witty.
• F. Kindness.
• G. Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side.
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
• A. Undeserved misfortune.
• B. External Character conflicts: her own father interrupted her intelligence meeting.
• C. Plot intruding on life
• D. Moral dilemmas.
• E. Forced decisions they’d never make.
• F. Wound attacked.
JUSTIFICATION
• A. The character or their family abused. Nick Chen is out for revenge on her parents, Rachel doesn’t know it yet.
• B. Threatened by others. Rachel is shot at in the first scene and almost killed as she carries out her job protecting a colleague during an intelligence meeting.
• C. The Hero is the victim of attacks:
• D. They’ve suffered major losses.
• E. The Villain or their representatives have trespassed.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Barbara Gilmore.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by
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Nick’s Likability/Empathy/Justification.
What I learned: This is a good way to round out character empathy.
1. Brainstorm answers to Likability/Empathy / Distress/Justified for your Hero.
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
A. Other people like or respect the character.
—Loved by his wife and best friends who care for him deeply.
B. The character shows love for something.
—He loves his wife and friends and three-legged dog.
C. They’re trying to do something good.
—Trying to recover from his PTSD and lose of limbs.
D. Save the cat—rescue/do something good for someone else.
—He rescues a baby and gets blown up.
E. Funny, humorous, witty.
—After he gets his self-worth back and into action.
F. Kindness.
—Towards animals.
G. Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side.
—Ridding the world of amoral skinheads.
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. Undeserved misfortune.
—He loses his legs in combat.
B. External Character conflicts.
—PTSD.
C. Plot intruding on life.
—Skinhead encounters.
D. Moral dilemmas.
—To save Afghan baby, or not; to save dog during chase.
E. Forced decisions they’d never make.
—Making weapons out of his legs to kill with.
F. Wound attacked.
—Skinhead smashing prostheses.
JUSTIFICATION
A. The character or their family abused.
—Juan beaten and sodomized, Emilio beaten and hanged, Gloria and Coral beaten and raped.
B. Threatened by others.
—The skinhead culture is to eat dark-skinned human meat.
C. The Hero is the victim of attacks.
—SUV vandalized; getting beaten up, sodomized.
D. They’ve suffered major losses.
—Their freedom and personhood stripped away.
E. The Villain or their representatives have trespassed.
—The skinheads assault their freedom, their very being.
2. Organize them into a sequence that happens in the first Act of your script.
Opening scene: Soldier Juan is in a street skirmish with the Taliban. He ducks behind a tipped-over Humvee in the middle of the street, trying to get to the safety of a building across the street where another soldier covers for him. He sees a baby crying in the middle of the street by its dead mother. He runs, grabs it, and is blown up in a cloud of blood and dust.
Back home in Florida and now a civilian, we see that he has lost his legs and has a bad case of PTSD. His wife, Gloria; best friend, Emilio; and Emilio’s’s wife, Coral, try to help him get over his insecurity by taking him on a weekend getaway camping trip to Georgia.
At a rundown rural cafe/gas station stop, their car is vandalized by a gang of Harley-riding skinheads, who Emilio calls “assholes”. The gang leader, Mankill, feels dissed by that and the altercation turns violent. The sheriff breaks it up just as Mankill is about to shoot Juan in the head.
The sheriff sends the reluctant bikers away. Mankill vows revenge. They leave in the opposite direction the bikers went and eventually turn into a hollow, called Spooky Holler, where there is—advertised on a dripping red lettered signpost—private camping at the end of it. They found their peace and quiet.
They arrive at a farm fronting the camping ground. They go into the farmhouse to register but nobody’s there. It’s a strange place: animal trophies all around the room; plaques on the walls memorializing people with black and hispanic names. The owner finally arrive scarrying dead rabbits and a shotgun and she gladly rents a campsite to them—half-price.
They pitch their tents and settle in around the fire until a rainstorm sends them into a tent. The storm triggers a PTSD episode with Juan. The storm passes. Then they hear more rumbling thunder in the distance. To their horror, it’s not thunder, but a herd of Harleys, lead by Mankill, come home to the farmhouse to party. And their motorcycles block the only lane out. They are trapped!
xxx
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Laura Woodworth’s Likability/Empathy/Justification
What I learned doing this assignment is that I’ve built in these elements in my screenplay (in part because I took it through the Thriller class), but I haven’t felt like my character was “likable” enough, or that I clearly gave the audience a reason to care. Rewrites will help me build this in better.
NOTE ON ASSIGNMENTS: Much of this I’ve done as I took my script through the Thriller class; in this Action class, I’m trying to glean the elements that will elevate my script to an Action Thriller. With that in mind, some aspects of these assignments are being worked straight into the script.
1. Brainstorms answers:
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
• A. Other people like or respect the character.
o Husband Evan loves her; Rachel is liked at work by associates and bank patrons
• B. The character shows love for something.
o She shows love to her husband, and to friends Brian and Lisa, and also for someone she doesn’t know (Luke) as she prays for him and cares.
• C. They’re trying to do something good.
o She’s trying to heal herself, pray good things for others, and as she becomes aware of the villain’s plot, to stop evil.
• D. Save the cat — rescue or do something good for someone else.
o She prays for others.
• E. Funny, humorous, witty.
o Playful with Evan.
• F. Kindness.
o Kindness to elderly bank patron, neighbors.
• G. Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side.
o She’s fighting for good, to save lives!
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
• A. Undeserved misfortune.
o She’s lost a child.
• B. External Character conflicts.
o Conflict in marriage because of Evan’s career change from ministry to the dangerous life of an FBI agent. The danger, the change in schedule and in the dynamics of their relationship. He can’t tell her things… and now she can’t tell him things.
• C. Plot intruding on life.
o She didn’t ask for these visions! She was trying to lay low and heal, and now God is revealing the villain’s plot to her and she must respond.
• D. Moral dilemmas.
o To report to the FBI and possibly jeopardize Evan’s job (what if I’m wrong?) and later to tell Evan; and then later, to take action or not.
• E. Forced decisions they’d never make.
o She hides her action from Evan. Secrets.
• F. Wound attacked.
o Her trying to stop the evil is a way to stop the death of more children.
JUSTIFICATION
• A. The character or their family abused.
o She is captured and tortured; family and friends are in danger, innocent lives are being taken, including those of children.
• B. Threatened by others.
o Threatened by the FBI as her involvement is suspected. Threatened by Villain as they pinpoint her as the cause of their failures.
• C. The Hero is the victim of attacks.
o She is captured and tortured.
• D. They’ve suffered major losses.
o The lives lost by the villain’s attacks has become personal as God has revealed these incidents to her prophetically.
• E. The Villain or their representatives have trespassed.
o The villain is killing innocent lives in their plot to take over the U.S. Government.
2. Organize into outline: I’ve worked these into an outline/first draft when I took this through the Thriller class.
3. Done (as above – in Thriller class).
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THE FOUNDLINGS
What I learned- I need to still learn to distill this down into a more concise bullet point.
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
A. Other people like or respect the character.The pain they have in losing their children, but also their love for each other as they have stayed together-
JW questions if Olivia ever wonders what her life would be like if they never met- Olivia replies with absolute confidence that she would never consider never meeting JW- She has sorrow for the loss of their children, but doesn’t blame JW. The Bystander greets Olivia in a friendly manner
Dr. Yelli is worried about Olivia’s sickness- saying that she is reaching out to a colleague on Coruscant – Magistrate knows and
B. The character shows love for something.JW and Olivia love each other deeply and managed to survive the loss of their children – They show and give kindness to those in need – The Foundlings and Elzee, the wounded Jedi –
C. They’re trying to do something good.Live a quiet life now that their adventurous smuggler days are behind them –
D. Save the cat — rescue or do something good for someone else.Olivia brings home the Foundlings and feeds them JW brings home the wounded Elzee Together, they render care and aid to Elzee and the Foundlings.
E. Funny, humorous, witty.Olivia and JW married banter in the morningThe Foundlings are Oliver Twist scamps- They bust up a drug deal to steal Beskar, the highly coveted Mandalorian metal which is more valuable than (Gold).
F. Kindness and Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side.Same as Save the Cat moment – JW brings the wounded Jedi, Elzee, home to render aid the same day Olivia In the climax, JW stands up against Asa, unarmed, to stop him from belittling the Foundlings-
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. Undeserved misfortune.JW and Olivia lost their children when someone from their smuggler past came- killing their daughter and son in the altercation – Olivia also has a terminal illness which she has yet to tell JW about.
B. External Character conflicts.The newly formed Empire wants the Jedi Younglings for an undisclosed reason- thus they engage
C. Plot intruding on life.The Bounty hunters force JW and Olivia to spring into action and escape their home without any preparation- Their ship is in disrepair. -the main hatch won’t seal- which prevents them from leaving atmosphere until they fix it while they are being pursued by Asa in his Bounty Hunter ship-
D. Moral dilemmas.-the E. Forced decisions they’d never make.(uncertain-) F. Wound attacked.
JUSTIFICATION
A. The character or their family abused.The Foundlings are picked on by Asa Dern who is enjoying tormenting these kids who have lost their families in various attacks- which is the reason they become Mandalorian Foundlings- adopted kids-
B. Threatened by others.Asa Dern and the Bounty Hunters attack their home in the early morning hours to get the Jedi Basinets –
C. The Hero is the victim of attacks.After they retired from their life of Smuggling (back story), they become a family- have kids and one day a stranger from their past comes seeking revenge- JW and Olivia survive failing to save their kids- Today- JW and Olivia are trying to do the right thing by rendering aid to the Foundlings and the wounded Jedi- are forced out of their home-
D. They’ve suffered major losses.Same as above- JW and Olivia must flee their home and all their memories to keep the Jedi and the Foundlings safe and alive –
E. The Villain or their representatives have trespassed.Bounty Hunters attack JW and Olivia’s home- Bounty Hunters kill the local Doctor to cover up their presence-
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What I learned from doing this assignment is that there are a lot of ways to create ethos for the Hero/Heroine
Wendy’s Likability/Empathy/Justification
A. Other people like or respect
the character.Heroine is the in-charge person for compassionate service in her church
B. The character shows love for
something.Heroine has just made a dinner for a needy family and she just found out that she is pregnant
C. They’re trying to do
something good.Heroine is always doing things for other people
D. Save the cat — rescue or do
something good for someone else.Heroine has started a clothing collection for the homeless for the holidays
E. Funny, humorous, witty.
Heroine walks around humming and singing with a smile on her face
F. Kindness.
Heroine lets other people in during heavy traffic
G. Good moral decisions and actions.
Being on the right side.Heroine dresses modestly and is always there for her husband
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. Undeserved misfortune.
Her life ended in the prime of her life and she was about to be a new mommy
B. External Character
conflicts.Heroine’s will be missed by everyone
C. Plot intruding on life.
She was about to begin a new life as a mom
D. Moral dilemmas.
Heroine is killed by her husband and his accomplice
E. Forced decisions they’d
never make.Heroine would not have taken her own life
F. Wound attacked.
Heroine was the nicest person around… but her vengeance will be second to none
JUSTIFICATION
A. The character or their
family abused.She was an innocent attacked and then they wanted to end her life too soon but they were malicious and pulled the plug
B. Threatened by others.
There are two people that want to take her life just to be rid of her
C. The Hero is the victim of
attacks.The heroine is constantly attacked from all sides because no one understands that the killer is the most unlikely of characters, …her husband
D. They’ve suffered major
losses.She has lost her life and the life of her unborn child
E. The Villain or their
representatives have trespassed.The husband tried to kill her, she must fight back because he will not stop until she is gone for good
The Heroine is making dinner for a needy family, she tells her husband that she is pregnant, and he tells her that he needs to take on a few more days of call to help out the hospital. She smiles in respect and tells him that it is okay, and she understands.
She goes to deliver the meal and stops for gas and is attacked by an unknown person. She was taken to the hospital as a Jane Doe and is assigned the name of “Trauma Allert Vengeance”
At the hospital she is prepped and draped by the resident and the scrub tech then the “Dr.” comes in and it is her husband, and he is supposedly unaware that it is his wife, but secretly he knows and the anesthesia is in on it too. The say that there is no hope for her and they let her go. She then comes back to life and starts to exact vengeance on them and kills anyone in her way.
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